Dec 24, 2009

The Skin of Our Teeth | Author Biography

Thornton Niven Wilder was born on April 17,1897, in Madison, Wisconsin, the survivor of twin sons born to Isabella Thornton and Amos Parker Wilder. At the time of Wilder's birth, his father, a newspaperman with a Ph.D. in political science, was working as editor of the Wisconsin State Journal. A strict and religious man, Wilder's father exerted a forceful influence over his second child. The young Thornton often felt the pull between his mother's encouragement and his father's disapproval.

In 1906, the Wilder family moved to Hong Kong, where Amos assumed the diplomatic...